Our language is fading away right under our noses. All because we are trying to avoid saying what we really mean. Doublespeak is “the use of euphemistic or ambiguous language in order to disguise what is actually being said” (Doublethink, Doublespeak or Double-Talk.). On the other hand, gobbledygook is defined as “wordy and generally unintelligible jargon” (Gobbledygook.). These two terms- however different they may seem -are rather closely related. They are both forms of language that are employed to render language more ambiguous and not come out and say exactly what it is you are meaning to say. Gobbledygook is a form of doublespeak; this being one way in which these two terms are related. They are both closely associated with political …show more content…
Firstly, doublespeak was first coined in the early 1950s, whereas gobbledygook was coined by Maury Maverick in 1944. Alongside the fact that the two terms were initially coined around a decade apart, the origins of these two terms are also quite different. Maury Maverick, he who first coined ‘gobbledygook’, was working for the US government in the House of Representatives. He was living and working in an environment that was filled and centered around the bureaucratic language that could be considered utter jargon. After having worked for the Smaller Works Corporation he became so utterly exasperated with the terribly long and confusing words and sent a memo saying that any such gobbledygook used should be banned and that “anyone using the words activation or implementation will be shot!”(Lior.). He then revealed that his inspiration for coming up with such a word to describe this way of talking was how it resembled the gobbling of turkeys thus the name gobbledygook. He also explains that “the ‘gook’ comes from the sound made at the end of the gobble by the turkeys.” (Lior.). Moving on to the origin of doublespeak, and how it widely differentiated from that of gobbledygook. This particular origin story had previously been debated because some believed that the term doublespeak originated in George Orwell’s novel 1984, when it did not, in fact, come from …show more content…
The reason for which we see the use of doublespeak frequently in today’s society is because it is closely associated with political language, which is heavily employed nowadays. It is used to distort words and phrases so that people are expressing their ideas whilst trying to deceive people as to avoid potential conflict. A good example of doublespeak is given by author William Lutz : “the State Department announced it was replacing the term ‘killing’ in its future reports with the phrase ‘unlawful or arbitrary deprivation of life’" (Lutz, William.). Doublespeak is used to obfuscate people and make them believe they are fully aware of what’s being said when they really aren’t. People like to use doublespeak to make money and hide negativity. For example, by saying something is “gently used” when it is actually beyond use, that’s a complete distortion of truth and the person can make more money than they should off of the product. As for the use of gobbledygook in today’s society, it’s used for similar reasons: to confuse people. It’s used to make people believe that whatever it is they’re reading or seeing is official and trustworthy whereas it most likely isn’t. It’s widely used in today’s economy to make more money. An example of this is given in an article found in the New York Times: “When you’ve just invented something,” a banker once told